angel wings and the aesthetic illusion
by annicaspoons
Summary: All he wanted was to be able to visit and see all the sights of the circus – not to be almost killed, and then kidnapped by a tempestuous circus harpy with flair for throwing sharp objects. Circus AU


**Title: **angel wings and the aesthetic illusion

**Ratings/Warnings: **K+. Warning for dangerous circus acts

**Words: **5,800

**Characters/Pairings:** Wally West, Artemis Crock (and other members of the team) – Wally/Artemis

**Summary: **All he wanted was to be able to visit and see all the sights of the circus – not to be almost killed, and then kidnapped by a tempestuous circus harpy with flair for throwing sharp objects.

**Author's Notes****: **Written for a Christmas exchange on tumblr. Sorta set around the 1880s/90s. The inspiration just hit me one night and I couldn't not write it. The setting and concept is based off the novel "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgensten (if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it).

**.**

**~*~******_sparkles_****…*~**~**

**.**

Even without the prior knowledge - notices or colourful posters that promote the arrival - it's quickly known all around the city that the circus has come to town. The train arrives at the station, and immediately, multiple tents and stalls are erected in the large showground. Children abandon their marbles and hopscotch to press their noses up against the fence, trying to see into the excitement. Couples, rugged up against cool weather, pause to glance at the commotion before moving along. Scammers and pickpockets move their businesses closer to the area, as small crowds bustle around trying to catch a glance of what the mysterious arrival could be.

Wallace West staggers slightly under the weight of his cousin as Bart sits on his shoulders and pushes into the older boy's hair, trying to get a better look. Wally can vaguely see a banner being strewn across the front of the spectacle, but can't quite make out what it says through the fence - that is, until small hands start to tug at his hair excitedly, causing the redhead to wince.

"It's Haly's it's Haly's it's Haly's!" squeals the seven year-old on Wally's shoulders. "Haly's Circus! It's Haly's! We have to go we have to go we have to gooooo!"

Wally pries Bart's fingers out of the tangles in his hair and angles his head up as far as he can without tipping the younger boy off. "I dunno..." he says teasingly. "Visiting the circus sounds a bit dull, don't it?" Bart's grin immediately turns into a stern pout, and Wally chuckles, turning away from the showground to walk them back to the house. "Alright," he sniggers. "We'll ask your mum."

.

.

.

Unfortunately, according to Aunt Iris, only good little boys who finish all their carrots at tea are allowed to go to the circus, and no matter how many times Bart rapid-fires off multiple pleases - or how much he rationalizes that carrots absolutely cannot be a proper vegetable, because they are orange and taste disgusting - Iris is firm on her case, and Bart is not allowed to go to the circus tonight. Wally however, did eat the yucky, orange monstrosities, and after more begging on Bart's end, relents to go to the circus himself, to 'find out the most fun places' for Bart's own promised visit tomorrow.

"Bring back some candy," Bart whispers into Wally's ear while the older boy is bending down to tie up his shoes. Wally nods and sends him a wink before his cousin dashes upstairs to investigate whether he can see any of the pretty circus lights from his bedroom window.

Following advice from his Aunt, Wally shoulders on a jacket and places a woollen cap over his unruly red locks. He's thankful for it as soon as he steps outside, and the bitter, cold wind nips at the exposed skin on his face. He pulls the cap down to cover the tips of his ears and shoves his hands in his pockets as he makes his way down the path towards the showground.

It's hardly any time at all before he can hear the music and excitement that is drifting from the circus. He joins a long line of people; a diverse range of ages, sizes and social statuses, all drawn into the same spot to look at this new wonder.

The line moves quickly, and soon enough, Wally is handing over a small admittance fee and being ushered through the gates. He takes a few steps in and immediately stops in his stride, gazing in wonder at the explosion of light and colour and sound all around him. Brightly-coloured stalls and large tents litter the area, and people weave in an out between places, pointing and crying out exclamations of wonder.

The exhilarating atmosphere is loud and bright in the night air; he blinks against fairy lights and spinning flames and avoids stilted men as he begins to make his way along the paths. People push their ways past him while he continues to gaze around, in an attempt to take in each and every detail. He's unable to however, with the purposeful crowd milling about him, and squeezes himself out of the mill of the crowd and presses his body up against one of the tents.

The tent that he's leaning against is a green and gold wonder - spiralling lines and a warm light emanating from within. He glances at the short chalkboard in front of it for information; it reads in big, cursive lettering: "Fearsome Aim from the Exotic East!"

The amount of people in there seems considerably less than outside on the paths, so Wally ducks through the tent door, nodding a greeting to the doorman that stands just inside, and finds an empty wooden seat towards the back of the tent. He pulls off his cap and glances around the interior; the seats are arranged in a horseshoe shape around a small platform stage - Wally imagines that most of the tents are set up in this format. The stage is bare, save for a large circular target towards the side.

The constant murmur of the crowd dies down as more spectators settle in their own seats and the doorman rolls down the open flap of the tent and walks up to the platform. In the growing quiet, Wally thinks he can hear jingling coming from behind the stage. Maybe bells - or shaken coins.

"Greetings! Ladies and gentlemen!" The voice that bellows out from the doorman (and apparently, the announcer), takes the audience by surprise. The man smiles, showing off a golden tooth among his dirty, yellow set, and continues with his announcement.

"Raised in the wild and exotic jungles of the Eastern territories - two fascinating and, might I say, quite beautiful, young women with the gift of extraordinary aim! May I present to you, ladies and gentleman, the sisters of hawk-eyed vision and deathly accuracy! Jade! And Artemis!"

The jingling to the back of the stage sounds again, and two green and gold-clad young women step onto the wooden platform. The announcer/doorman steps off with a flourishing hand, allowing the girls to takes their own spots on the platform and bow to the applauding audience.

Dressed identically in long green skirts and cropped tops, the only thing telling the two young women apart is the difference in their hair. Tied back high and tight on their heads, coal black hair cascades down from of the girls' heads, while the other's matches the gold of the tent's swirling decorations. The dark-haired girl smiles wryly, before turning and nodding towards her sister, and reaching for the small throwing knives at her hips.

As the blonde sister moves to the side of the stage, Wally notices that the jingling he had been hearing was from the multiple golden coins that adorn the skirts of both girls, and the bangles that swing down from their wrists. The blonde girl picks up three red apples from a stool to the end of the stage, while the dark-haired one faces the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Her voice is smooth and evocative. "My name is Jade, and this is my younger sister Artemis. From children, we have been taught how to guide and control multiple projectiles, and some of which we have learnt, is what we shall show you on this grand night." She throws a look to her sister, Artemis, who places one of the apples on her head, and holds the other two in a palm each, and moves to stand in front of the wide, circular target.

Wally can almost feel the rest of the room holding their breaths as Jade pulls a knife off the belt around her hips. The red of the apples greatly contrasts the rest of the tent. Jade holds the knife in the air, aiming, while Artemis stares back at her, waiting patiently.

One woman lets out a cry as Jade releases the knife, and throws another two. The room goes still and quiet once the thunk of them hitting the target board sounds across the tent. The tensity of the air continues to grasp at Wally's chest, until Artemis finally moves, stepping away from the board, unscathed and smirking. She bows to the audience and then presents the target, and the three red apples that are firmly pinned to it.

The rest of the act continues in a similar fashion, though not quite as heart-attack-inducing as the first trick. Knives are thrown and objects are pinned against the board. Nothing is missed, whether it is a large prop or a small; stationary, or flying through the air. The sisters exchange smirks and conniving looks with each exclamation of amazement, wonder or fear.

Artemis has just finished pinning the crocheted scarf of an audience member to the board, planting knife points through only the loops between the yarn and nothing else, when Jade steps into the middle of the stage and faces the audience. "For our next and final act," she announces as Artemis pulls a stool with a black sheet onto the stage, "we're going to need a _very_ brave volunteer." Her smirk widens and her eyes dart towards Artemis. "Is anyone willing to put their trust in my sister to not kill them?" Wally notices Artemis roll her eyes and send a glare towards Jade, and he chuckles to himself. Jade saunters off the platform to walk among the crowd, while Artemis pulls the black sheet off the stool to reveal a bow and five arrows lying across it.

He doesn't realize that he's still laughing softly to himself when his view of the stage is blocked by green and gold embroidered clothing, and a bare midriff and arms which have been painted with the same golden swirls and curves as the tent has been. He looks up to see Jade smirking down at him. "You look like a strong and brave young man," she says, tugging on his arm and guiding him up to the stage. Stepping up onto the middle of the platform, he blinks at the bright spotlights that hit his eyes.

"So, 'Red'," Jade says, her voice significantly louder as she stands in front of her audience once again. "What do we call you?"

"Uhm," he rubs the back of his neck, "Wallace. West - Wallace West."

"Well," Jade smirks, "'Wallace West'. Are you willing to act as a _superb _volunteer for us?" Grey eyes meet his and Jade smiles alluringly.

Wally shakes it off. "Oh, you mean I actually get a choice?" He put a hand to his chest in a faux heartfelt gesture. He hears a soft snort come from Artemis behind him, and even Jade looks impressed with the comment when he get a few chuckles from the crowd. Jade guides him to a position in front of the target and, at Jade's instruction, he plants his feet to the ground and doesn't move.

Jade moves back into the crowd, holding a piece of black cloth and picking audience members at random to look through it. Each of the randomized people comes to the same conclusion: the material is nigh impossible to see through.

With this fact well established, the blindfold is placed over Artemis' eyes while she smirks at Wally, an arrow already notched to the bow, ready for her to pull back and aim. Wally tries to swallow something down as she lifts the bow, but finds that he can't.

He's torn between shutting his eyes, or keeping them open as the blindfolded Artemis draws back the bowstring and points the arrow in his direction. After alternating between the two options for a while, he finally settles on having one closed and the other just peeking out open. It's taking every once of will he has to not just dart off the stage and out the tent flap.

Artemis' fingers finally begin to release the string, and the one eye he had open is closed once more.

He never imagined that he would die at such a young age.

He also never imagined it would be a 'Death by Flying Arrows Shot by Circus Freak'.

(He hasn't even gotten any candy for Bart yet.)

A thunk and multiple gasps and cries sound through the air, and Wally feels the target board jostle behind him. Keeping his eyes squeezed shut, he holds his breath and tries not to flinch as more twangs and thumps follow.

His eyes are still shut when someone clears their throat in front of him. He opens them finally, to meet the eyes of a smirking Artemis. "You're not dead, you know," she whispers to him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from his arrow-outlined position against the target board. He's pulled into the middle of the stage for a bow before his wrist is finally released and he's able to escape down back to his seat.

The final thanks and applauses are given out and the audience begins to mill off their seats and out of the tent towards different attractions. As he makes his own way out, Wally once again finds himself pausing close to the tent opening, trying to decide which direction he's going to take.

"I wouldn't have _actually_ hit you, you know." He whirls back around to see Artemis standing at the mouth of the tent, hand resting on her hips and smirking.

"I know that," he mutters, breaking from her gaze to look at what seems to be a food stall on the other side of the path. He still however, notices her take a step towards him.

"Really?" She's looking at him with a cocky gleam in her eye. Wally decides that he doesn't like that. "Because it seemed to me as if you were about to soil yourself while up there." Wally glares at her. She looks considerably different to how she appeared up on stage, having abandoned the skirt and golden bangles and coins for brown slacks, boots and a jacket that Wally is pretty sure is made for men. She has pulled her hair out for it to fall arbitrarily over her shoulders, and the paint from her mouth has been rubbed off (in haste, he surmises - from the faint smears of red around the edges of her lips). The only thing that still sets her apart as a member of the circus is the golden paint that continues to flickers in the light on her hands, arms and bare midriff.

Wally scowls, stubbing a toe into the dirt path. "I wasn't about to soil myself. I knew you could see through that blindfold."

The archer raises her eyebrows at the comment, whether it's in surprise, or she's still making fun of him, he can't tell.

"Really?" Her eyebrows lower into a confused frown. "How could you tell?"

His eyes catch on the black piece of fabric that's tied around her wrist. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Yes…" she glances down warily, turning her wrist over. "Why?"

"May I take a look?"

Artemis sends him a suspicious look, but shrugs and unties the blindfold anyway, handing it over to the redhead. He takes it and puts it over his eyes, like Jade had done to the members of the audience when she was 'proving' that it was impossible to see through. As he expects, he can't see anything through one side.

But then he flips the fabric over, and looks through it again.

It's now Wally's turn to smile cockily as he hands the blindfold back to Artemis. "You can see through it on one side more than the other," he says. While he admits that the improvement in vision on the other side isn't much, it's most certainly enough for someone with claimed 'hawk-like' vision to see through and aim with.

The look on Artemis' face tells him that he's right. She chews on the inside of her cheek. "Alright. You caught me. But, even without a blindfold, not many people could shoot _around_ a human target like that."

Wally shrugs. "So, you've practiced a lot."

"Maybe it's a gift. Maybe it's just _magic_."

He's not _trying _to be so rude, but he still can't prevent the disbelieving scoff and laughter that comes out of his mouth.

"Magic doesn't exist."

Artemis folds her arms and narrows her eyes. "Oh, really now?"

"Yeah, really. You're not telling me you actually believe in it, are you?"

She considers him for a moment, before finally deciding on something. "So, your name's _truly_ 'Wallace West'?" Wally feels his cheeks heat up and directs his gaze to the ground.

"...maybe."

"Well, 'Wallace West'." She smirks and pulls the edges of her jacket around her. "I hope you didn't have anything else planned tonight."

He sends her a confused look while she strides towards him and tugs on the elbow of his jacket. "Why-what? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to change your mind about magic. That's what I'm doing."

.

.

.

He has to pinch his wrist to remind himself that this is actually happening, and that he has indeed been _kidnapped_ by a wild circus girl who is known for a talent in throwing sharp projectiles, and has been dragged through and in between multiple circus tents on some harebrained quest of hers to change his mind about magic. They duck through the small, dark blue tent of a 'fortune-teller' (Wally scoffs as he reads the sign) and end up standing in front of another tent - much bigger than any of the others he has seen so far, and shifting in hues between blue and red and green and many other colours.

(Projected coloured lights, he decides. That's how it's being done.)

He takes a moment to read the sign out the front and groans. "'Magician Magnifique, Zatanna Zatara'? Really?" He turns to Artemis. "A fellow says that he doesn't believe in magic and you drag him to a magician's act to try and prove him wrong?"

Artemis looks up at him with an unimpressed gaze. "Oh, there's no 'trying' here. You'll believe in magic after seeing Zatanna."

"Smoke and mirrors!" Wally throws his hands up. "That's all 'magic' is! Just tricks and illusions and things that are pretty to make it look good." Artemis rolls her eyes, obviously done with trying to change his mind verbally, and drags him inside.

Wally is ready to seat himself up at the back for a quick getaway, but the blonde is having none of that, and pulls him up to the centre of the tent. They sit down at the end of the front row while other crowd members are only just walking in.

Artemis turns to Wally. "I'm just going to see if Zee needs any help setting up," she says, standing up. "Stay here. If you don't I _will_ find you, and I won't aim for around your body this time." Wally sends a glare towards her retreating back, but stays seated anyway.

It's hardly any time before Artemis returns, slight smirk on her face and sitting back down next to Wally. Throwing her a suspicious look, Wally asks whether Zatanna needed any help after all.

"What? Oh - oh, no. She didn't need any help." She chews on her lip and stares at the stage with a mischievous smirk on her face. "She didn't need any help at all..."

Predictably, Zatanna's introduction to the crowd is flashy and full of 'magic'. Blue smoke and three doves fly up from the stage, clearing to reveal a young dark-haired woman in a sparkling black dress. She curtsies to the amazed audience, before picking out a wand, seemingly from thin air ('seemingly' - she's wearing long white gloves. She could have easily pulled it out from one of them), and beginning the main run of her magical show.

Wally has to admit that it's impressive. Whatever contraptions or tricks she's using, they are very well concealed, and no matter how hard he's searching for them as the show goes on, he can't find even an inkling of proof that Zatanna is a fraud. He has to commend her for that, at least.

Although, despite not finding any proof of fraudulence, there is something that Wally is finding throughout Zatanna's tricks. Many of them have been directed in his direction - or, more specifically, right towards him. He narrows his eyes as he picks up on this fact, and takes a moment to glance at a certain, smirking blonde sitting next to him, grey eyes following the show and shining in wonder.

It's once a pile of notebook papers, transforming into doves with an incoherent mutter from Zatanna as they drift in the air, fly straight towards him and peck at his bright red hair, that he turns to glare at Artemis. "You did this, didn't you? You told her I didn't believe in magic so she would target me in her act."

Artemis continues to stare up at the stage, smiling and clapping as a sawdust-created otter that has been darting around the crowd collapses onto the ground in a small cloud of dust. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she says innocently, while Zatanna gives her final thanks and conclusion.

Wally doesn't miss the wink she sends to the magician as they walk out of the tent.

The audience is walloped once again by the cold air outside as Wally follows Artemis back onto the main path. "So," she smirks, turning to face him, "how was that for just 'smoke and mirrors'?"

Wally narrows his eyes at her. "Alright. I admit it was pretty good. But that doesn't change the fact that _magic still doesn't exist_."

Artemis gives him an exasperated look, as if to say 'really?', and turns back around, striding to small stall with sugared pastries. It's only as the stall-man hands over a couple of pastries to her that Wally then realizes how hungry he is. His stomach gives a loud rumble as Artemis comes back towards him and he winces.

Evidently, Artemis didn't miss the sound of his complaining stomach, and laughs, handing over a pastry. Wally frowns as he inspects the crystallized sugar that is dusted all over it (she could be trying to poison him for all he knows. He certainly wouldn't put it past her), and Artemis, apparently reading his mind, rolls her eyes.

"I think I've tried to kill you enough for one night," she says, breaking off a piece of her own. "Just try it."

"What is it?"

"Crostoli. Angel's wings." Wally frowns.

"What?"

"Just eat it! It's good!"

Still suspicious, Wally breaks off a piece of the pastry and tentatively places it in his mouth. He's not quite sure what he was expecting, but the explosion of sugary goodness and pastry that melts on his tongue was probably not it. His eyes go wide, and he quickly breaks off another piece of the crostoli and places it in his mouth while Artemis watches him with amusement.

"I told you it was good," she smirks.

"Yeah, but-" Wally pauses to take another bite. "You also told me that magic was real- which it isn't. And, you also – theoretically – tried to kill me. So, forgive me if I'm wary of your judgement." Artemis' amusement turns into an expression of the complete opposite.

"You are never going to let that go, are you?"

"Not on your life, Goldilocks." Wally waggles his eyebrows. "I'm calling at least three granted wishes or a lifetime of servitude for you to make that up to me." He mauls another piece of crostoli that Artemis hands to him as he watches a small act next to the crostoli stand: a little boy directing a monkey to do tricks while a small crowd gathers around and claps.

Artemis seems to consider him for a moment. "I don't think I could offer any wishes or servitude to you..." she muses, a finger scraping little sugar crystals off the pastry, "...but there is something I could give you."

"Hmm? And what's that?"

She smirks. "Only a tour of the greatest and most brilliant acts of the circus." Wally gulps down the food in his mouth and nods slowly.

"Not as good as the ideas I had, but I guess it'll do." Artemis nods with him and proceeds to grab his elbow and drag him along the path again. "Wait! We're going to start now?"

"There's no time to squander, Wallace!"

"But food!" Artemis rolls her eyes.

"We'll get to that, trust me. Crostoli isn't even the best food we have here."

.

.

.

Wally does get his food (and he admits, begrudgingly, that Artemis was right: there is _so_ much more good food around), and follows Artemis to a few of the sites in the circus that she considers are 'only the greatest and most fantastic' acts of any circus in the world. They gather around a large tank of water and watch as 'Kaldur'ahm, the Brother of Sharks', dips his body into the tank with two majestic - and absolutely terrifying - sharks (Wally _really_ must ask how they are transported whenever the circus is on the move). The entire audience must hold a record for holding their breath as they watch with keen eyes as Kaldur'ahm swims among the sharks and feeds them by hand.

What the redhead finds is even more impressive than the act itself, is the absolute serenity that the young man performs it with. Even in one horrifying moment when it genuinely seems like one of the sharks is about to move to take a bite out of the performer, Kaldur'ahm remains calm and passive as the shark continues to swim past him, and the audience lets out a collective sigh of relief.

After that terrifying ordeal, Wally is dragged into yet another tent to watch the quick-changer, M'gann M'orzz, change outfits with what must be unbelievable speed, as her strongman assistant, Conner, holds up curtains and other concealing devices for her. While watching the spectacle, Wally notices the small gestures and glances that occur between the quick-changer and her assistant, and Artemis leans over to murmur in his ear. "Talk around the troupe is that he's been gearing himself up to court her," she whispers, nodding towards the two current performers. "I'm pretty sure we're all in collective agreement that it's about time he did."

After the act, as Wally still tries to wrap his head around how M'gann is able to change her outfits _so quickly_, Artemis, instead of going out the tent flap they came in, pulls Wally through another flap behind the stage. They end up inside the tent next to M'gann's. A darker tent, with soft lights and colours, and the commotion that can be heard in every other part of the circus muffled into a dull murmur, revealing the sounds of a some tinkling instrument and an unseen water fountain.

"The Illusionary Track," Artemis whispers to him, as she guides her arm down from his elbow to grab at his hand. Wally's eyes dart around to try and catch a glimpse of something – or anything, really – but Artemis guides him along a certain path in the tent, he finds his senses being muted and confused by changing lights, mirrors, echoes, soft sounds and a crisp breeze that flows around them.

It's so quiet and serene that despite the fact that Artemis' sweaty hand is pulling on his own, he feels like he's the only person in the tent – hell, he feels like he's the only person in the world, and that everything that he has known or seen or done has just been a mere, complex illusion. He finds himself so firmly planted in tranquillity of the Illusionary Track, that when he is pulled out of the tent and flung back into the bright, loud,_ real_ world of the circus, he has to blink and shake his head multiple times to wake up back to reality.

After clearing his head of the sensory-based confusion, he finally looks up at the great expanse of a tent that stands right in front of him. Most certainly the biggest tent in the entire circus, it stands taller than the place Wally lives in with his family, and exhumes an aura of magnificence and grandeur.

"And of course," Artemis says, in a similar announcing fashion that she and Jade had used on the stage of their own act, "the main attraction of Haly's circus." She flourishes an arm towards the tent, and the huge banner that hovers over the entrance: 'The Flying Graysons'.

She begins to make her way towards the entrance, but pauses and turns around when she realizes that her charge isn't following. "You know, you can actually see the act better from_ inside_ the tent," she calls out to a gaping Wally, still staring at the banner.

He knows the Flying Graysons, of course. _Everybody_ knows of the Flying Graysons. They're only the most daring and talented circus act in the whole northern hemisphere – the whole world, even. To be able to watch the Flying Graysons in action, even once in your life, is enough of a gift to last three birthdays and five Christmases.

It would be so tempting to run into the tent and watch them right now…

But no. He promised Bart that he would make a list of the best places for them to visit tomorrow night, and this definitely is high enough on that list for him to be able to wait one more day for it.

"Are you coming?" Artemis asks him, having walked back towards him and looking at him with a quirked eyebrow. "This is going to be the last act of the whole troupe for the night."

He shakes himself and looks towards her. "You know, really – one night of showing me all these snazzy places in the circus could only really equate to one granted wish…or only a third of a life of servitude…"

Artemis frowns. "Oh…kay?"

"So, if you _really_ wanted to make up for trying to kill me (Artemis rolls her eyes), you would actually owe me _two more_ nights of this."

She sends him a confused look. "You're…planning on coming back tomorrow?" Wally nods.

"I've got to bring my little cousin tomorrow night, and I promised him that I'd show him the best places here. Now, if those places were shown to him by an actual _member_ of the circus, then how much better could it get?" Wally crosses his arms over his chest and leans back, looking rather pleased with himself. Artemis seems to consider the idea for a moment, before allowing a smile to crawl across her face.

"Alright then, Mr. West. You've got yourself an agreement."

She holds out a hand and he steps forward to shake it. "It's been an pleasure doing business with you. Now…how do I get out of here so I can get home?"

(He remembers just in time to get some candy for Bart, and Artemis guides him to a stall just in front of the showground's entrance to buy a paper bag of hard, red candies.)

.

.

.

He and Bart turn up at the circus nice and early the next night, and Wally goes straight to Artemis' tent to let her know they have arrived. She nods a greeting, but proceeds to shove them back out of tent, because "What are you thinking? This act isn't for a little kid to see!".

So they wait outside. Wally hangs around one of the food stalls while his cousin befriends the little boy that Wally had seen performing with a monkey the night before. Apparently also seven years old, and the younger brother of the quick-changer, the little boy introduces himself as Garfield, allowing his pet monkey to crawl all over him and Bart.

Artemis rushes out of her own tent as soon as her act has ended, still in the process of rubbing off makeup and pulling on boots. She rubs the top of Garfield's head and introduces herself to Bart, before directing him and Wally around different areas of the circus, with Gar tagging along, deciding to make his own performance a mobile one.

They go to some of the same places as Artemis had shown Wally the previous night, but then branch off into others; a group of acrobats, a contortionist, and - of course - the Flying Graysons. Bart's practically bouncing along the path instead of walking, tugging on Wally's jacket and pointing at everything and anything that catches his eye. He even squeals when Artemis promises him a look into some of the "super secret prop rooms".

"Thanks," Wally says softly to Artemis near the end of the night, nudging her with his elbow as Bart shoots off a number of babbled questions to Gar, who seems just as excited to be hanging around someone his age.

Artemis shrugs, watching the two younger boys bounce and talk to each other. "I did owe you, didn't I?"

"No you didn't. Not really."

She smirks. "I didn't manage to convince you about the reality of magic yet, did I?"

Wally scoffs. "You'll never manage that."

"Oh, we'll see. Tomorrow night's closing night, and they can be pretty magical." She sends a cocky look towards Wally, but it doesn't register to him. He's staring at the ground, only just realizing that this is going to end, and after tomorrow night, the circus will pack up and be on its way, and he may never see it, or her, again.

"Wait," he says, and Artemis, who's gotten a bit ahead of him, pauses and turns around. "Am I going to see yo- is Haly's ever going to come here again?"

She stares at him, gears clocking into place as she realizes what he's really trying to say. Her teeth move to chew on her lips as she tries to figure out how to answer.

"I...I don't know. It's always kind of an on-the-spot decision where we go next."

"What if I still want to, you know, see you again?"

A smile slowly grows across her face. "I'll get messages to you - somehow."

.

.

.

A year later, a postcard is put into the mailbox of the West-Allen family, and Bart Allen, upon finding it, immediately runs up the stairs to his cousin's room. He hands the piece of cardboard over and the older boy reads through it, a grin placing itself on his face.

_'We're due in on the sixth of March. I expect you to come and help us set up.'_

Glancing up at the calendar's date, Wally nudges Bart. "Put on your coat, Bart. We've go to get to the showground." Bart grins and dashes off, while Wally pulls a box off his dresser and drops the postcard in it, nestled among hundreds of others.


End file.
